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So I have kept rough track of this change and wasn't all that enthralled to hear that GW was attempting a further monopolization of the wargaming market. I understand that people "know" that GW is doing this in an attempt to help out the little FLGS's, but I have mixed emotions on this subject.

Here is my question though. Has buying minis from online sites that offer 20% off and free shipping for large orders become insanely hard to handle for the online market? I ordered some stuff from an online store and actually had to call them and talk to them in person to order ANY GW stuff. This wasn't a huge problem until my package was 2 weeks and counting late. I am not quite sure what has happened and I am thoroughly fed up with this specific company.

Is this a common thing for these stores to do? Could the lateness of my package actually be a "special order" item that takes way to long to get from GW the ship to me, or should I just get my money back now, and avoid the nonsense?

Have you sent the retailer you did business with an email (or phone call) to ask whats causing the delay?

Without knowing why theres a delay, getting annoyed over it seems to be jumping the gun a bit.

Ideally they would have sent you what stock was on hand, and then anything backordered would be sent a bit later. But free shipping offers sometimes have fine print that only covers one shipment.

What you should do is post a denouncement (full of half truths and embellishments) of said online store so when the owner inevitably responds to the thread you (and whoever backed you) can be put in an awkward position and we can all learn a lesson in internet justice while being amused (it's edutainment!).

Wrexasaur wrote:So I have kept rough track of this change and wasn't all that enthralled to hear that GW was attempting a further monopolization of the wargaming market. I understand that people "know" that GW is doing this in an attempt to help out the little FLGS's, but I have mixed emotions on this subject.

Here is my question though. Has buying minis from online sites that offer 20% off and free shipping for large orders become insanely hard to handle for the online market? I ordered some stuff from an online store and actually had to call them and talk to them in person to order ANY GW stuff. This wasn't a huge problem until my package was 2 weeks and counting late. I am not quite sure what has happened and I am thoroughly fed up with this specific company.

Is this a common thing for these stores to do? Could the lateness of my package actually be a "special order" item that takes way to long to get from GW the ship to me, or should I just get my money back now, and avoid the nonsense?

No, it's not common for a business to be slow with shipping nor require you to call in your order [unless of course they don't have an online shopping cart.]

Do you have a tracking number?

It doesn't matter what business a company is in, they shouldn't run you around in circles like this.

This has nothing to do with GW IMO, and all to do with bad business practices.

Lagduf wrote:
No, it's not common for a business to be slow with shipping nor require you to call in your order [unless of course they don't have an online shopping cart.]

Do you have a tracking number?

It doesn't matter what business a company is in, they shouldn't run you around in circles like this.

This has nothing to do with GW IMO, and all to do with bad business practices.

Umm, are you aware GW doesnt allow online retailers to provide a shopping cart for GW items? This means you have to email or phone in your orders.

Thats fully assuming you go GW direct, there are ways to go GW indirect and still shopping cart.

Thank you for your replies

RogueMarket wrote:Thats fully assuming you go GW direct, there are ways to go GW indirect and still shopping cart.

Would you still be able to get discounts this way? Call it cheap or w/e, I could care less, this stuff is extremely expensive.

I have talked to the company through e-mails, and got pretty evasive answers. Their answer as to why my order was late involved one piece on kit I believe. At some point I must have been asked whether to ship my order separately because I ordered a Shadowseer (this may have been the reason), and expected to receive the stuff within a week or so. Waiting a week for free shipping isn't uncommon in my experiences. Waiting much longer than that is just preposterous, I should be the one receiving e-mails at that point. It's common pratice to drop a line and inform the customer of any delays, and I do understand they told me and w/e.

I am not a huge fan of bashing when a company doesn't deserve it or I get my stuff within a "tolerable" time-frame. Don't get me wrong I will totally rate this vendor extremely poorly, but I will HAVE to wait as I don't feel it is fair to jump to conclusions. Bad business is bad business, but I sincerely hope that the prompt (if not a bit blunt) e-mail I received back means that my minis will not be lost to the void. I will get my money back if there is a problem, but I will be EXTREMELY irritated, and the company will be sure to know this.

How have these changes affected how you get your minis online?

Mistress of minis wrote:Umm, are you aware GW doesnt allow online retailers to provide a shopping cart for GW items? This means you have to email or phone in your orders.

In the US. The rest of the world has accepted the 21st century.

insaniak wrote:

Mistress of minis wrote:Umm, are you aware GW doesnt allow online retailers to provide a shopping cart for GW items? This means you have to email or phone in your orders.

In the US. The rest of the world has accepted the 21st century.

Yes they have indeed, and I am just going to jump into my hover-car and go watch some blurnsball... WAIT A MINUTE...THIS AIN'T THE FUTURE.

(orkmoticon disclamer= )

Over the years I've found that smaller retailers have more of a problem keeping enough stock to be able to ship out medium or large (or even specialized) orders in a reasonable time frame, at least for GW stuff. What will happen is that they won't have an item in stock, so they have to order it, and sometimes that item won't even arrive with their next restock. This can happen ordering directly from GW as well; my FLGS has ordered things for me straight from GW that have taken three weeks to arrive, and they're a decent-sized local account and are GW's good graces enough to get the early rulebooks and codexes.

I'm not saying that this is an excuse for poor communication, which it isn't, but it may be the reason for their slowness.

That is what I hope to be happening, I am not sure if these new changes have made it even harder for them. Ordering over the phone shouldn't be new to most of them, but it might involve weird forms that they are not used to? Excuses, excuses .

I will just have to wait a few more days and see... I need to call them again actually, I don't want to wait a month to receive a 5 day package.

Use Maelstrom games FFS.

Free Worldwide Shipping, A Magic Cart thing and Lower UK prices. Win/Win/Win